Companies with fewer than 10 employees should be given a ‘holiday’ from the minimum wage, according to Conservative London Assembly Member Tony Arbour.

Mr Arbour, who is LA member for the South-West constituency, is using a meeting of the Assembly’s Economy Committee today (June 12) to call for London’s small and micro-businesses to be given a short minimum wage exemption of up to six months in an effort to boost employment and growth.

He says the minimum wage “can act as an inhibitor for small and micro businesses and prevent them from taking the necessary risks to succeed.”

A short exemption of up to six months from the minimum wage could be the catalyst which transforms micro businesses into live enterprises.

It was recently announced that the national minimum wage will rise by 1.8 per cent in October, 50 per cent higher than average wage growth. For adults aged 21 and over the minimum wage will rise from £6.19 per hour to £6.31.

Tony Arbour said: “A time of high unemployment is not the right time to be pricing out those at the margins of the labour market. I think it is important to now consider the idea of a minimum wage holiday for micro businesses and start up companies who employ fewer than 10 members of staff. This will encourage these small enterprises to take on new workers.”